This being my last column of the school year, I wanted to briefly outline some of the coming attractions for the months ahead to give all of my readers out there an idea about what to see and what to skip. This year’s batch of summer blockbusters looks to be vastly superior to last year’s bunch of duds (apart from X-Men that is), but there will be a fair share of losers too. So here’s a quick guide of picks and pans to keep as a reference tool when you are deprived of my advice during the summer months.
Summer at the box office begins early this year, just like it has weather-wise for most of the nation, with the release of The Mummy Returns this coming Friday. The first movie was a big smash when it was released just two years ago (almost to the day), and this new film looks to follow pretty well in its footsteps. Rick and Evie from the first movie return, still played by Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. This movie takes place ten years later, with Rick and Evie’s son accidentally uncovering an artifact that unleashes mummies upon the city of London. If the trailers are to be believed, this movie promises all of the non-stop action and killer special effects of the first film.
The rest of May looks to be a virtual dead zone, with few movies being released of such blockbuster caliber. But if you can get past the medieval love story A Knight’s Tale (May 11) and J-Lo as a cop in what looks to be a very lame romantic drama Angel Eyes (May 18), you’ll finally come to Memorial Day weekend, and the release of the much-anticipated war epic Pearl Harbor.
In Pearl Harbor, Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett play two aviators who are best friends that find themselves in love with the same girl, played by Kate Beckinsale. The film’s trailers obviously highlight its amazing war footage, but the romantic storyline set against a historical backdrop is almost more in the vein of Titanic than Saving Private Ryan. Still, with Michael Bay, director of The Rock and Armageddon, at the helm of this film, there will surely be some very gut-wrenching action sequences.
May will also begin the trend of animated films being released this summer, with Michael Myers playing an ogre in the animated feature based on fairy tales Shrek (May 18). Atlantis, Disney’s animated film this year, looks a little darker in tone and more stylish than their usual kiddie fare; in fact, it has even received a PG rating instead of the usual G. (You know it’s going to be a good summer when even the Disney movie looks good.) Its June 15 release will put it in direct competition with the live-action version of every video gamer’s dream, Lara Croft, as played by Angeline Jolie in the new film Tomb Raider. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, another movie based on a video game, will be released on July 13; this one unlike Tomb Raider will be computer animated. One of the weirdest animated films on record, Osmosis Jones, will be released on Aug. 10; it follows the life of an animated white blood cell cop in the body of Frank, played in the real world by Bill Murray.
June might seem to be a lame month in its beginning, with the June 1 opening of Nicole Kidman’s flashy musical Moulin Rouge and Rob Schneider in The Animal, a comedy that from all descriptions makes See Spot Run sound good (especially since it also stars Survivor’s Colleen Haskell). But quickly the scene shifts to much worthier films, as if the movie studios were too afraid to release any big blockbusters so shortly after Pearl Harbor, which will surely top the box office for its first two weeks in theaters.
Evolution (June 8), starring David Duchovny, looks to be this year’s Men in Black or Ghostbusters, dealing with the idea of an alien invasion in comedic fashion. Spielberg will be wrapping up the month on June 29 with his newest film AI, about a boy robot (played by Haley Joel Osment) looking to become truly human. This film was one Stanley Kubrick strived to make for many months before he died two years ago, and its plot plays out sort of like Bicentennial Man, only good.
Comedy sequels begin their domination of the summer in June with the release on the 22nd of Eddie Murphy’s Dr. Doolittle 2. Scary Movie 2 follows quickly, with a release date of the Fourth of July. While the Dr. Doolittle sequel looks to be more of the same stuff as before, Scary Movie 2 will take the parody of the horror genre in a completely different direction, this time spoofing movies with demonic themes like The Exorcist and Omen. The action/comedy duo of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return in Rush Hour 2 on August 3. Late in the summer American Pie 2 will be released (Aug. 10), and by the time school is back in session again, you can get the gang together to go out and see the final View Askewniverse film from Kevin Smith, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Aug. 24).
Two other big releases will come in the latter half of the month of July. First Jurassic Park 3 will be released on July 18, although with Spielberg bowing out on this one and Michael Crichton’s involvement next to nil, I doubt even the return of the main characters from the first film, as played by Sam Neill and Laura Dern, will save this one. Tim Burton’s remake of Planet of the Apes rounds out the month with its July 27 release, and this one looks to make up for the lameness of the newest Jurassic outing. Burton’s sense of style and suspense will definitely make this one a must-see.
Finally, we come to August, which seems to be the dumping ground for more mediocre genre films that can’t quite compete with the true blockbusters. Rollerball’s release starts the month, and it befuddles me to even wonder why somebody thought this cheesy ‘70s sci-fi flick deserved to be remade. A Western aimed at the teeny-bopper crowd, American Outlaws (Aug. 17), features a young Jesse James starting out at his life of crime, and two horror films, one with a sci-fi twist (John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars) and one about a girl whose dead boyfriend just won’t leave her alone (Soul Survivors), share a release date of Aug. 24.
Keep in mind that many of these recommendations are based solely upon press releases and previews, not the actual completed film. If you want to keep up with what I think about the newest releases through the summer, the best thing I can advise you to do is keep an eye on my website for new reviews as I see the films.
